In the modd for love review năm 2024

The presence of romantic films these days are filled with explicit sex and nudity, trying to describe love and passion but filmed with the feeling of hollow. In The Mood for Love, while old, deserved itself the title of classic romance of shying away from the “basic” of romantic film these days and replaces those clichés with an emotional core that are layered with countless themes depending on how the audience sees it, making the film alive.

Perhaps the easiest way to start and understand Wong Kar-wai’s mind is through “Chungking Express” (1994), being one of his most accessible films with a light-hearted tone about love while also filled with visual metaphor and context for an audience who seeks more. However, In The Mood For Love, while obviously still retaining Wong’s signature style, doesn’t include the jolt of love Chungking Express had offered. Instead, it presents love in a more mature way, delivering the theme on a darker yet a more realistic take. It is disappointing at some point for a person who only watches no other but only Chungking Express. But it’s a mistake for the person to judge the book by its cover, and didn’t see how the unique, understated romance could actually make the audience sink into the mood and be speechless.

The story itself is set with the historical backdrop of 1962 Hongkong, centered between Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung) and Mr. Chow (Tony Leung) as they live in the same apartment building. Their respective spouses rarely present in their life due to work issues. When they realize that their spouses might be cheating with each other, they try to re-enact how the cheating happened, while agreeing to keep their relationship platonic. The story itself is told through pieces by pieces, mostly cut using a fade out transition to show how much time had passed. But as love, the film traveled at a fast pace, demanding the audience to concentrate, connecting the film ambiguity into a story that has a different understanding for each. Backed up by the charming performance of Tony Leung as well as the quiet yet powerful acting by Maggie Cheung, both of them lived up Wong’s story of a man and woman living in an urban, crowded city as they try to find connection to fill up the hole in their heart.

The technical aspect also perfectly conveys the story. Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping Bin (Ping Bin had to replace Doyle due to the production going over schedule) lushly capture the film in an unconventional way, but every shot is irresistible to look at. The production and costume design felt authentic with color. The contrast of color of red, green, and some black reflects the theme of love and jealousy perfectly. Additionally, the costume of Mrs. Chan just adds the elegance and beauty of the character. The soundtrack is the topping that perfectly sums up the film into almost flawless artwork. Every time Yumeji’s theme played in the background with slow motion movement of the character, it transitioned the emotion into a noir film of tension and suspense of the almost forbidden relationship. Thus, this aspect is the ones that dug the film deeper into the philosophy of love.

The infamous corridor glance photographed by Christopher Doyle (Source: YouTube)

Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow, knowing their respective spouses are cheating, try to reenact what happened that made their spouses get attracted to each other. And thus, began their quirky relationship where they act out as each other spouses — Mrs. Chan as Mr Chow’s wife, and Mr. Chow as Mrs. Chan’s husband. As they play out, we as the audience start to remove the boundaries of fantasy and reality, bringing the question of whether the event did happen or not considering the transition that Wong used. It’s all just the matter of time before everything went too far, but even if so the real question is are they in love with the person who they are or are they in love with the fantasy that the person created? It would require multiple viewing, analyzing from the use of color, set design and especially cinematography to really grasp the whole knowledge. Not to mention the background of time also set the social commentary of Hong Kong where gossip exists everywhere. But to understand the film fully would be a disgrace, as In The Mood for Love is a poetry of ambiguity for the audience to feel the emotion underlies within the core.

For a person who is not used to or new to Wong Kar-wai’s film, it might be hard to understand his work of art. But nevertheless it proves how great Wong could make an understated romance where almost, if not none other directors are able or have the courage to explore into something visceral. Yes, the audience might not understand and requires multiple viewing to finally get it, but I prefer to leave it alone for a while, letting the emotion flow as I’m just left speechless, entering the mood.

Sensual and devastating in equal measure, Wong Kar-Wai’s “In the Mood for Love” captures the loneliness of unfulfilled desire better than almost any other film of the 2000s. Wong uses lush visuals, precise framing, and evocative slow-motion to illustrate both the beauty of unexpectedly falling in love and the fractured feeling of knowing it can never be consummated. Its quiet, subtle tone masks a deep well of love and pain that only occasionally shows its face amidst the many visual repetitions, riffing on ideas of adultery, heartbreak, and infatuation without a clear schema. “In the Mood for Love” operates on instinct and intuition, engendering a tender sensation that is ultimately transient but creates the illusion of permanency. It’s a love story about love itself and how it lingers in the minds of its subjects far longer than any one relationship ever can.

Set in 1962 Hong Kong, Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) move into the same apartment building on the same day and become next door neighbors. Both have spouses who work late and leave them alone for long periods of time. Since the two are often alone, Chow and Su see quite a bit of each other in the halls and on the streets, with plenty of chance encounters on their way to the street noodle cart. The two independently believe their respective spouse is having an affair, but after a telling dinner conversation, both realize their spouses are having an affair with each other. In response, Chow and Su strike up a platonic relationship, playacting how their spouses met and got together, and rehearsing how they’ll confront them about their infidelity. Along the way, the two eventually develop feelings for each other and fall in love, but their respective principles and societal norms ultimately keep them apart, leaving them to pass each other by over many years.

The first thing you notice about “In the Mood for Love” is its pacing, and how its both patient but ruptured. Wong employs a snapshot structure to Chow and Su’s relationship, luxuriating in small moments of connection before jumping forward in time to another moment all together. It’s the collection of these moments coupled with Chow and Su’s slow realization of their spouse’s deception that allows their relationship to at first pivot on revenge but then later become something deeper and tangible. Wong edits the moments when they’re playacting their spouse’s affair as if they’re twistingly real before dropping a hint that it’s all been pretend, creating a sense of intimacy that keeps being deferred by their own separate realities. There are a handful of blink-or-you’ll-miss-it moments that hint at when these two actually fall for each other (one that jumps to mind is the sequence when Su travels to Chow’s rented apartment to help him write that’s punctuated by whirlwind jump cuts), it’s mostly kept to suggestion, as if we know it’s inevitable far before they do.

Wong gracefully employs certain techniques in the film that somehow produce both overwhelming beauty and unbearable dread. The leitmotif of “Yumeji’s Theme” (originally composed for Seijun Suzuki’s 1991 film “Yumeji”) expresses their own loneliness and their respective desire, rendering simple shots of Chow or Su eating alone some of the most heartbreaking moments in the entire film. Wong’s use of slow-motion simultaneously basks in the gorgeous splendor that is Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung and ensnares them in prisons of their own love. But it’s Wong’s use of color that stays with you longer than any one sequence ever can. The film’s breathtaking use of reds and blacks captures the suppressed intensity of their love as well as the shadows where it must stay. His cinematographers Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping Bin create a colorful world of dark secrets, with bursts of flame threatening to pop out from the darkness only to eventually stay there untapped.

Why is In the Mood for Love so good?

The construction of “In the Mood for Love” is symphonic. Each of its elements—image, sound, dialogue—contributes to a greater, cohesive whole. Even the actors are just one part of the over-all collage, navigating spaces and tableaux of objects that feel laden with symbolism in the manner of a Magritte still-life.

Is In the Mood for Love worth watching?

A mood story more than a love story, it's all about sustaining a state of exquisite melancholy in the face of desire. If it is possible to find the erotic register of despair, or the romantic dimension of ennui, then Wong Kar-wai certainly achieves it in his new film. July 15, 2023 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Is In the Mood for Love a sad movie?

No summary can do it justice, for Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love" is nothing short of a miracle. A story about sadness that manages to be touching and at times funny.

What is in the mood of love about?

In 1962, journalist Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and his wife move into a Hong Kong apartment, but Chow's spouse is often away on business. Before long, the lonely Chow makes the acquaintance of the alluring Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk), whose own significant other also seems preoccupied with work. As the two friends realize their respective partners are cheating on them, they begin to fall for one another; however, neither wants to stoop to the level of the unfaithful spouses.In the Mood for Love / Film synopsisnull